New Smyrna group calls for renaming North Causeway

Tuesday

Aug 27, 2013 at 9:32 PMAug 27, 2013 at 10:07 PM

By RICHARD CONNrichard.conn@news-jrnl.com

NEW SMYRNA BEACH — A prominent citizens group Tuesday presented a multipronged plan to the City Commission it believes can reinvigorate the North Causeway — including renaming it. “By definition a causeway is a raised path or road, as across wet ground or shallow water,” Marty Danaher, one of the leaders of New Smyrna Beach Citizens for Smart Growth, told the commission. “Those perceptions do not paint a very flattering image, or not accurate, and most importantly, do not properly set expectations nor capture the future we envision.”Leaders of Citizens for Smart Growth didn’t voice all 18 points that are part of the group’s vision for the North Causeway, but Danaher said the causeway is an island and said city officials should consider renaming it Coronado Island as an ode to the area’s history.“If you create that image, that little bit of panache that you can in real estate, then the prices that you sell (homes) for, the property assessments, all that goes up and the city benefits,” Danaher said after the group’s presentation. “And it costs you nothing.”Mike Kolody, another member of the Citizens for Smart Growth, said the North Causeway “really has no identity whatsoever.” He stressed the need for more consistent zoning along the causeway. As an example, Kolody said housing density on the mainland is much greater than the beachside.“What that does is it allows much greater development of the property, more dense development, that really isn’t suited for that point,” Kolody said. “It’s our suggestion that the dividing line between mainland and beachside simply be relocated to a point, let’s say 50 feet or 100 feet east of the mainland shoreline. That will make the North and the South Causeway areas in the same zone.”New Smyrna Beach Citizens for Smart Growth formed last year and now has about 900 members , Danaher said. The organization is run by seven managers and an executive committee with 17 members. Members made their voices heard beginning last fall when the group fought plans for a now aborted apartment complex on the North Causeway that was set to include low-income units.Members of the group Tuesday presented packets to each commissioner outlining their 18-point plan. It includes a call for more landscaping, lowering the speed limit along the North Causeway and allowing the use of low-speed vehicles along the boulevard.Sally Gillespie, another member of the Citizens for Smart Growth, said the North Causeway suffered for years because of a lack of planning. She mentioned several developments now or soon to be under construction along the causeway that should give the area an economic boost. Those projects include the New Smyrna Marina, which in addition to a marina with 31 boat slips, will include 21 Key West style cottages and a restaurant and tiki bar.“We feel we can keep this momentum going with good planning,” she said.In other action, the commission approved a $196,499 bid from Barracuda Building Corp. to build a 36-space parking lot at the corner of U.S. 1 and Canal Street. Construction on the parking lot should begin in October.